Mayor Don Wesely today announced that his office and interested
corporate citizens have created the Mayor's Community Conscience Award
to honor a local business for its participation in meeting the human
service needs of our city. The first award will be presented at an
awards breakfast Friday January 28, 2000 at the National Bank of
Commerce (NBC).

"The strength of our community depends on help from all segments of the
city - government, business, foundations, unions, socials service
agencies and more," Mayor Wesely said. "This new award will draw
attention to the significant contributions the corporate sector makes to
our quality of life in Lincoln."

The winner was selected by a panel of business people, headed by Roger
Larson of NBC, Topher Hansen of CenterPointe and Steve Schmidt of Union
Bank. Corporate leaders are invited to the breakfast, which will
feature Ira Jackson, a fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of
Government at Harvard, where he previously served as Associate Dean. He
is also a former Executive Vice President of BankBoston. He is writing
a book titled "Capitalism with a Conscience" and has created
award-winning programs in the field of corporate citizenship. He is in
Lincoln to attend the annual meeting of CenterPointe.

(There will be no announcement of the award winner until the breakfast.)